In recent years considerable attention has been focused upon the development of polymers having high temperature resistance. While considerable success has been achieved in the synthesis of such polymers, it has been found that these polymers commonly are intractable and lack plastic flow characteristics normally encountered in polymers which lack the high temperature resistance. Representative intractable polymers which lack a glass transition temperature below the decomposition temperature include the BBB type polymers [i.e. poly(bisbenzimidazobenzophenantroline) and related nitrogenous polymers]. Fibers and films routinely may be solution spun or cast from such high temperature resistant polymers. However, the intractable nature of such polymers has made the formation of quality three-dimensional shaped articles from the same difficult. For instance, when solid particles of an intractable polymer are hot pressed, good compaction commonly is achieved, but the resulting article commonly exhibits minimal particle bonding thereby limiting its utilization to those applications where high strength demands are not encountered.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the processability of normally intractable high temperature polymers.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the processability of an intractable high temperature polymer which lacks a glass transition temperature below its decomposition temperature.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for forming a three-dimensional shaped article from a normally intractable high temperature polymer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved three-dimensional shaped articles comprising a normally intractable high temperature polymer.
It is a further object of the present invention to improve the strength of three-dimensional articles formed from a hot pressed normally intractable high temperature polymer.
These and other objects as well as the scope, nature, and utilization of the claimed invention will be apparent from the following description and appended claims.